I've built two Apogee Aspires. Both flew on a F42-8T. Both were setup with dual deploy (TeleMini, small streamer, and a the chute that comes with the kit. Both returned to earth "unassisted". The first was in surprisingly good shape after laying out in the desert for two months. I used the wrong ematch and neither charge went off. I scavenged parts off of it to build the second rocket. I probably shouldn't have reused the TeleMini without sending it back to be checked out. It gave me good beeps on the ejection charges but neither fired. I tested the only one I recovered and it popped just fine. The rocket launch was about as vertical as one can get. Unfortunately, so was the return. I sent the TeleMini in to see if they can get data off of it. I think the altimeter failed so I'm not optimistic. I have a perfectly good 4" fiberglass rocket that I'm going to build for my L2 attempt, so what is this all about? I don't like to fail.
I've got my LOC IV set up with redundant dual deploy. Think of it as a test bed for the L2 attempt (on L1 power). I've had no failures in 6 launches. The first time the nose cone was just a bit loose and the Apogee charge kicked it out too. The second time was picture perfect. For me that means I need one more successful launch and recovery to call the LOC IV a success. I'm 0 for 2 with the Aspire.
#3 Aspire is being built. In about 30 minutes the last fin will be on. I've got a good sim on it so just for grins I looked for the largest 29mm single use motor I can get (not realizing how big that is 305mm / 12"). From the Apogee website, that's an Aerotech I205W. 345 N-sec, 17 second burn time, and according to the sim it'll go 8,800-ish feet. Peak velocity is about Mach 1.5. Ok, ok... put your carving knife back in the drawer. I have no intention of launching with that motor. For one thing I would have to extend the length of the sustainer because the motor is so long. I want to launch with the Aspire tubes that were supplied. But man...
The question is, how much force can a 29mm diameter cardboard tube sustain. The last thing I want is for it to leave the rail and come see us like an errant bottle rocket on the 4th of July.
Bear in mind that, for the Aspire, the sustainer body is the motor tube. That's not a bad thing for the sustainer. The Aspire is not built per Apogee's standard. I 3D printed a sleeve that lets me "bury" the fin in about a 3mm deep, 5mm wide channel of epoxy. The fins were laser cut and came from Zbench. I papered them and put them in a vacuum sealer bag, pulled a vacuum on it, held it for 10 minutes so the glue could tack off, and then cut the bag open so that the fins could dry in the open air. Here's what was left of the lawn dart last weekend. I band sawed the fins out of the sleeve and reused them on Aspire #3. And yes, I posted in a beginner thread because that's what I am and at some level I always will be.
Here's the rest of it (post recovery)
And here it is at launch
I've got my LOC IV set up with redundant dual deploy. Think of it as a test bed for the L2 attempt (on L1 power). I've had no failures in 6 launches. The first time the nose cone was just a bit loose and the Apogee charge kicked it out too. The second time was picture perfect. For me that means I need one more successful launch and recovery to call the LOC IV a success. I'm 0 for 2 with the Aspire.
#3 Aspire is being built. In about 30 minutes the last fin will be on. I've got a good sim on it so just for grins I looked for the largest 29mm single use motor I can get (not realizing how big that is 305mm / 12"). From the Apogee website, that's an Aerotech I205W. 345 N-sec, 17 second burn time, and according to the sim it'll go 8,800-ish feet. Peak velocity is about Mach 1.5. Ok, ok... put your carving knife back in the drawer. I have no intention of launching with that motor. For one thing I would have to extend the length of the sustainer because the motor is so long. I want to launch with the Aspire tubes that were supplied. But man...
The question is, how much force can a 29mm diameter cardboard tube sustain. The last thing I want is for it to leave the rail and come see us like an errant bottle rocket on the 4th of July.
Bear in mind that, for the Aspire, the sustainer body is the motor tube. That's not a bad thing for the sustainer. The Aspire is not built per Apogee's standard. I 3D printed a sleeve that lets me "bury" the fin in about a 3mm deep, 5mm wide channel of epoxy. The fins were laser cut and came from Zbench. I papered them and put them in a vacuum sealer bag, pulled a vacuum on it, held it for 10 minutes so the glue could tack off, and then cut the bag open so that the fins could dry in the open air. Here's what was left of the lawn dart last weekend. I band sawed the fins out of the sleeve and reused them on Aspire #3. And yes, I posted in a beginner thread because that's what I am and at some level I always will be.
Here's the rest of it (post recovery)
And here it is at launch
